The London District Telegraph Company was formed in 1859. It was renamed the London and Provincial Telegraph Company in 1867.
distantwriting.co.uk 25 June 2012

/ref> The management were connected with the

British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company The British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company (also called the Magnetic Telegraph Company or the Magnetic) was founded by John Brett in 1850. The Magnetic was the principal competitor to the largest telegraph company in the United Kingdom, ...

and the firm aimed to compete with the dominant

Electric Telegraph Company The Electric Telegraph Company (ETC) was a British telegraph company founded in 1846 by William Fothergill Cooke and John Ricardo. It was the world's first public telegraph company. The equipment used was the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph, ...

in the London area. Its original Chairman was the banker and Member of Parliament Samuel Gurney (1816–1882). It used a combination of underground and overhead wires and saved money by avoiding the need for an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

to authorise its activities. The overhead wires, however, required negotiation with individual households and landowners and were vulnerable to damage in bad weather. The firm employed many female clerks who were supervised by a "Matron" and "Sub Matrons". In 1860 the company agreed with the

Astronomer Royal Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834. The post ...

to relay the

Greenwich Observatory The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...

time-signal to all of its offices. Despite an extensive network of lines in London, the company never made a net profit and only once an operating profit. It was acquired by the

Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official respons ...

in the general

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of private telegraph companies under the

Telegraph Act 1868 The Telegraph Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c.110) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It paved the way for the British state to take over telegraph companies and/or their operations. It has been effectively repealed (only s.1, provi ...

. The company issued a number of

telegraph stamp Telegraph stamps are stamps intended solely for the prepayment of telegraph fees. The customer completed a telegraph form before handing it with payment to the clerk who applied a telegraph stamp and cancelled it to show that payment had been ...

s which are of interest to

philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...

s. Hiscocks, Steve. ''Telegraph & Telephone Stamps of the World: A priced and annotated catalogue''. Woking: S.E.R. Hiscocks, 1982, pp. 134-135.

References

{{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Telegraph companies of the United Kingdom 1859 establishments in England Defunct telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom British companies established in 1859 Telecommunications companies established in 1859 British companies disestablished in 1868 Technology companies disestablished in 1868 Telecommunications companies disestablished in the 19th century 1868 disestablishments in England

See also

References